diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7d2229334..edcb64e87 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -100,6 +100,10 @@ else ()
   endif ()
 endif ()
 
+if (WIN32 AND BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "Shared libraries not supported on Windows.")
+endif ()
+
 
 project(freetype)
 
@@ -136,7 +140,9 @@ endif ()
 set(VERSION_MAJOR "2")
 set(VERSION_MINOR "6")
 set(VERSION_PATCH "0")
+
 set(PROJECT_VERSION ${VERSION_MAJOR}.${VERSION_MINOR}.${VERSION_PATCH})
+set(SHARED_LIBRARY_VERSION ${VERSION_MAJOR}.${VERSION_MINOR})
 
 
 # Compiler definitions for building the library
@@ -302,6 +308,15 @@ add_library(freetype
 )
 
 
+if (BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
+  set_target_properties(freetype PROPERTIES
+    VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION}
+    SOVERSION ${SHARED_LIBRARY_VERSION}
+    COMPILE_DEFINITIONS freetype_EXPORTS
+  )
+endif ()
+
+
 if (BUILD_FRAMEWORK)
   set_property(SOURCE ${PUBLIC_CONFIG_HEADERS}
     PROPERTY MACOSX_PACKAGE_LOCATION Headers/config
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index bdfabf58a..7b35ece10 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2015-08-02  Werner Lemberg  <wl@gnu.org>
+
+	* CMakeLists.txt: Improve shared library support.
+
+	Based on a patch from John Cary <cary@txcorp.com>.
+
 2015-08-02  Werner Lemberg  <wl@gnu.org>
 
 	* builds/unix/freetype-config.in (enable_shared): Remove.  Unused.